A Center Township man has been sentenced to 11 years on formal probation after pleading guilty to one count of child exploitation and one of possession of child pornography.

On Monday, Ari Spector, 47, was sentenced to the maximum term for each count, to be served consecutively: eight years for child exploitation and three for possession of child pornography. Then Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford--under the terms of the plea agreement--suspended the whole of the 11 years and ordered Spector to serve them on formal probation.

Bradford gave Spector credit for time already served prior to sentencing: seven days.

While on formal probation, Spector must register as a sex offender, undergo an HIV test, and continue his current therapy and treatment.

The plea agreement stipulates that Spector may transfer his probation and obligations to the State of Illinois and notes that--in January--he had “spent almost eight months of time in-patient” and is currently receiving therapy and treatment for “his sexual addiction” from a Chicago therapist.

According to the probable cause affidavit, in April 2011 the Porter County Sheriff’s Police received an anonymous report from the WeTip system alleging Spector to be in possession of child pornography.

A search warrant was subsequently obtained and executed at Spector’s residence on Beargrass Court and five computers seized. Those computers were examined by the Indiana State Police and were found to have “hundreds of photographs and videos of child pornography,” some “dating from as far back as 2005,” the affidavit stated. In addition, Spector had “created a management system using folders with appropriate dates as the folder names.”

Posted 3/13/2013